Deep Brain Stimulation in the Posteromedial Hypothalamic Nuclei in Refractory Aggressiveness: Post-Surgical Results of 19 Cases

Aggression is a clinical manifestation that usually occurs in neurodevelopmental disorders. In intellectual disability, dysfunctional behavior and aggressive and maladaptive responses are common. These facts put at risk the patient’s safety and cause discomfort in family members and caregivers (Gouveia et al., 2019). In general, drug prescription and behavioral therapy have favorable results in these individuals. However, there is a subset of patients who do not respond adequately to pharmacological and psychological treatment due to the severity of clinical symptoms and associated brain dysfunction (Torres et al., 2013) responsible for aggressive behavior. For this limited population of individuals, surgical interventions targeting the amygdala or hypothalamus have been proposed.